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The Vampire's Lair




The Henri David Halloween Ball Turns 30

Many of you are probably younger than the ball itself, but absolutely none of you can argue that one of the best Halloween parties on the East coast happens to be in little ol' Philly. Henri David, owner of a unique jewelry shop called Halloween on Center City's Pine Street, has been running his ball every year to an increasing number of partygoers, young and old.

Henri outdoes himself each year. His costumes can best be described by one of the ball's contest categories: "Most Spectacular." His mastery of showmanship and zest for life shines through in everything he does. Imagine a man dressed in a spider costume crawling on a 12 foot square web or dressed as a giant peacock with 1,500 real peacock feathers for a tail! Five years ago, for the ball's 25th anniversary at the newly constructed pennsylvania Convention Center, Henri had an industrial crane moving him around three stories above the crowd.

 
Kalina the Sexy Vampire


"The Queen" all decked out

 
The singing quartet of Titanic

"From a very young age, I always put a lot of time and effort into my costumes and then there would be nowhere to wear them," Henri said."So I decided to create an event where I could wear my costumes."

Over the years, the annual party has grown from a modest 300-person 100-percent gay attendance to a healthy crowd of 3000 that is 70/30-percent gay/straight.The ball has found a new home in the Wyndham Franklin Plaza Hotel, but the space is getting more congested every year. At midnight, costumers compete for trophies and prizes. A live band improvises theme music for each contestant.The contest judges include a famous female impersonator and local radio personalities. Sometimes a famous celebrity shows up (like John Astin last year). The mayor of Philadelphia also makes a guest appearance.

"I've been to Henri's Ball every year," said one attendee."It just keeps getting better every year."

Throughout the years, I've seen people dressed in all sorts of great homemade costumes: The Tick, M-and-M's, the cast of Star Wars, The Village People, Buzz Lightyears and Bo Peep from Toy Story, and Statue of Liberty Barbie. This year's entries include a singing quartet dressed as the Titanic and Dorothy (in ruby slippers) in the tornado from the Wizard of Oz.

"We have every human being you can imagine wander through our doors,"Henri states.

 

I married an alien!

Cher wins Most Beautiful

Dorothy in a tornado!

 
A bevy of Asian beauties

 
Sharing a drink with Henri

Notes on My Costume

This year I went to the ball as myself, Kalina the Sexy Vampire. My costume was to be a cross between Elvira and Morticia Addams. Researching the half a dozen or so gothic clothing designers, I came across one name that stood out above the rest: Jeannie Nitro. This San Francisco-based designer produces clothing you swear you've seen in gothic-themed vampire movies. I purchased Jeannie's "Batgirl" top and skirt, new for this fall season, in black velvet with black lace trim and a burgundy accent (inner lining).

The top is actually designed to show a lot of midriff, but I decided to enhance the look by adding a black corset to make my waist look even smaller than it is. The skirt is designed as a "mermaid-style"so it follows the leg line up until the calves and then flairs out. I used ample hip padding to give myself a very curvaceous shape. Instead of wearing my Mirage breast forms, I taped my chest up so I looked like I had real deep cleavage. Many people thought I was a woman the instant they saw me and swore I had breast implants (one guy kept ogling over me and asking me to dance with him). The vine-like "Jade" tattoo around my neck and shading between my breasts accentuated the look of deep cleavage.

For my hair, I bought a "showgirl" wig and had my wife, a professional hairstylist, shape the wig to look more like the coif of famed femme fatale, Elvira. Makeup color was suitably burgundy all the way to match the accent of my costume. I used Prescriptives foundation as a base and patted a very light coat of talcum powder on top of it to give myself a ghoulish cast (what a cute ghoul!). My lipstick color was L'Oreal's Plum Brulee.

Deep burgundy-bordering-on-black-painted nails that extended almost an inch beyond my fingertips made for one helluva hard time in the restroom.They looked great, though, especially when wrapped around a drink glass!(Don't think nasty thoughts!)

My shoes were six-inch open toe black velvet platforms by John Fluevog,which were quite a challenge to walk in. With my hair teased about four or five inches high, I stood at a towering six-and-half-feet tall. Compared to most female impersonators that night, I was still on the short side!

Special thanks to Rachel Harlow, one of the contest judges who personally walked up to me and told me I looked very beautiful. I remember you from three years ago at the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival's showing of The Queen.

Super Drag Tip: Line your lips while smiling. This will stretch the skin around your lips just right so that the pencil product glides on smoothly. You may end up looking a little funny in non-smile mode, but you will look awesome when you do smile. Drag queens aren't supposed to be frowning anyway!

 

Down With High Heels!

A 1994 study by the American Podiatric Medical Association shows that 33% of women wear high heels because they think they make their legs look good. Vanity declines as a rationale after the age of 45 but rises again after 70.

Only 7% of women wear heels because they are required at work. Black and Hispanic women feel nearly twice the pressure to wear high heels on the job as white women do (11%, 11% and 6%). 31% wear heels even though they hurt their feet. More Hispanic women (38%) wear heels despite pain than white women (31%) or black women (28%).

39% of women wear them despite knowing they are damaging to their feet. 27% of people have shoes that are uncomfortable but look good, but there are three times as many women in this category as men (big surprise, huh?).The younger the respondents, the more likely they wear uncomfortable but good-looking shoes.

Nine out of l0 women wear shoes that are too small. More than seven out of l0 have developed foot problems.

Even if you escape severe foot injuries, no devoted high-heel wearer gets away without shortened Achilles tendons (the tendon connecting the back of the heel to the calf muscle). And when the ankle can no longer bend properly, the arch begins to break down.

"The national obsession with beauty has created a demand for shoes that make the foot seem smaller, daintier and narrower," says Dr. Carol Frey, director of the Orthopaedic Hospital of Los Angeles Foot and Ankle Clinic. "Narrow, pointy-toed shoes and high-heeled shoes that make the foot look smaller by placing it in a more vertical position... can be devastating."

Despite the disheartening news, high heels are still very much in demand by sexy women in the media, in nightclubs, and in drag. I agree that high heels should not be the only shoe a woman should wear. A mix of different heel lengths will give your feet and legs different kinds of workout, from relaxing muscle relief in low heels to the equivalent of thousands of calf raises in high heels. So long as you mix it up, you shouldn't exhibit the kinds of problems the women I've mentioned experienced.

 

Kalina's TV Tips

Add gold or silver glitter lip gloss on top of your favorite lip shade.Gold is a "warm" color that looks good on top of reds and browns.Silver is a "cool" color that looks good on top of pinks and burgundies.Victoria's Secret mall shops sell special combo packs of lip gloss and body gel in these shades.

Keep an eyelash curler in the package it came in to prevent dirt, dust,and other nasties from contaminating it. Be sure to wash the curler with soap and water and allow it to air dry after every use.

Ardell has a false eyelash starter kit for under $4. It includes a pair of eyelashes, eyelash glue, and a lash applicator. Teamed with an eyelash curler and your favorite drugstore mascara for another $8 and you have a great long eyelash solution.

After painting your nails, cap the polish bottle tightly and shake it vigorously to keep the polish smooth.

Wearing a short style wig is very chic nowadays, but it is very important that you hide all of your own hair if it is a radically different color than the color of your wig. Keep your hair neatly tucked away with the clever use of bobby pins.

If a makeup product doesn't feel as soft, silky, or smooth as the first day you tried it on, that product is probably stale. Dump it and buy a new one. The same goes for wigs. Most wigs look great up to ten wearings. After that, they can end up looking anywhere from very good to kind of ratty.A professional hairstylist who knows how to deal with wigs can extend the life of your wigs. Factor in the cost of a good hairstylist with the purchase of any new wig.

 

Victoria's Secret

Anyone catch the new Victoria's Secret Christmas Dreams and Fantasies catalog? The 11x11 format is truly beautiful. Check it out, especially the back cover with "the $5 million bra." Who the h*ll is going to buy a $5 million bra? If you've ordered anything from these guys in the past year, you'll be bombarded with their catalogs around this time of year.I've been getting a different catalog every other day for the past two weeks!

 

Kalina's Cool Colors of the Month

A fashion faux pas for these months is wearing any shade suitable for the spring and summer (but you knew that, right?). This includes any neon color, bright white, yellow, tan, orange, pink, fuschia, lime green, baby blue, and others. If you think a color might look bad for the fall and winter,you are probably right and should avoid wearing it. Safe colors are black,light and dark grey, red, burgundy, medium and dark green, and medium and dark blue. I know some of you may rag on me for this tip, but there are many people who like to break this rule.

Street Wear is Revlon's bold and experimental color line hosting such dramatic shades as Midnight (a striking blue), Stain (a blood red), Chick (a canary yellow), and Toad (a drab green).I've been touting this color line since last March. These colors are not for everyone. In fact, stay away from them if you're not a clubkid or dragkid.Some of these colors would go head to head with colors from Hard Candy for coolness factor.

The recently introduced Red Glitter shade by Revlon is also a winner, especially for the holidays and Valentine's Day. I love it!

 

I Love L'Oreal

Why do I love L'Oreal products? Not because of their inhumane animal testing practices, but because of their excellent quality and value.L'Oreal quality consistently beats out anything put out by Revlon. Sure,Revlon has neater colors and prettier spokes models, but L'Oreal stuff doesn't smell like cheap wax and feels very silky against your skin. Because there is a healthy competition among all of the major drugstore cosmetic manufacturers,you, the consumer, benefit by getting more choices of neater-looking shades each season.

To the person who keeps sending me e-mail about not wanting me to"endorse"L'Oreal products: Please do not read my column any more. Also, please do not visit my Web site. I give every product a fair shake. There are probably practices that Revlon, Maybelline, and other companies prescribe to that wouldn't agree with you, too, if you found out what they were (I know cuz revlon was a client of mine). For all I know, having more lab animals tested on could prevent cancer in certain individuals from surfacing (those who know me know to whom and to what I'm referring to). I guess we should all limit ourselves to drab stuff like Almay, right?

Here, then, is the first part of a two-part mini-review of the complete L'oreal line for your reference. I'm sure it will be more helpful than not to most of you. As a consumer, please go down to your local drugstore, check out all of the product lines, including L'Oreal, and buy the products and colors that you like.

COLOUR SUPREME LONG WEARING LIPCOLOUR (grey case with gold trim)is a long-wearing lipstick that actually holds color to the lips as it provides a semi-shine finish. Its special anti-feathering complex keeps lipstick perfectly in place. Colour Suprême also contains natural emollients to help prevent drying of the lips. Colour Suprême is available in a sophisticated range of 30 wearable shades in creme and perle.

COLOUR SUPREME LONG WEARING MATTE COLOUR (grey case with gold trim) offers the long-wearing benefits of Colour Suprême Lipcolour without the shiny finish. This product offers a matte finish as well as the soft comfort and natural emollients of the Colour Suprême formula.Available in three shades.

Moisturizing lipcolors such as COLOUR RICHE HYDRATING LIPCOLOUR(deep violet case with gold trim) contains French grapeseed oil and moisturizers which allow the product to glide on and to keep lips soft and smooth. The formula is so moist that it actually improves the condition of the lips as it provides a high-shine finish. Colour Riche will not bleed, fade or change color. The wide range of forty-eight creme and perle high-fashion shades makes it easy to find the perfect shade.

SHEER COLOUR RICHE HYDRATING LIPCOLOUR SPF 15 offers the same moisturizing benefits of Colour Riche Lipstick. SPF 15 provides UVA/UVB protection. These twelve sheer shades include both creme and perle.

Stay-on lip colors such as COLOUR ENDURE STAY-ON LIPCOLOUR (slim grey case with gold trim) is a transfer-resistant lipcolour that glides on effortlessly in just a single stroke. The new state-of-the art formula leaves lips incredibly moist & creamy so lips feel soft, smooth, and comfortable. Colour Endure is a smudge-proof, fade-proof, and water-proof to stay on lips all day long. Color holds endlessly without feathering or bleeding. After applying, wait for lip color to "set" to a soft,matte finish that lasts, and lasts, and lasts. Available in thirty-six creme and perle shades.

NEW CRAYON GRANDE LIPCOLOUR PENCIL (unsharpened pencil) is the ultimate in convenience because it lines, defines, and colors lips for an extraordinary soft, matte finish. The creamy, non-drying formula contains vitamins A, E, and Shea Butter to leave lips soft and smooth. Crayon Grandeis fun, easy to use, and available in trendy yet sophisticated shades. Collect all ten, some in a creme finish, some in a perle finish.

CRAYON PETITE: AUTOMATIC LIPLINER (self-sharpening pencil) precisely lines and defines lips and prevents lipstick from feathering and bleeding.The formula is aloe-enriched to provide conditioning benefits. Crayon Petite comes in ten assorted shades to blend with all lip-color families. Don't be fooled by the term "self-sharpening." For best results, twist the pencil to expose more of the crayon, but swipe the tip at an angle against a piece of plain bond paper to "sharpen" the tip to a chisel-like point.

L'OREAL LONG WEARING NAIL ENAMEL is a long-wearing, ultra-high-shine enamel in an extraordinary range of 77 high fashion colors. The chip-resistant formula goes on smoothly, dries quickly and protects nails from peeling and cracking. The creme shades have a soft, long-lasting glow, while the perle shades provide extra shimmer and wear. Unlike its main competitor,Revlon, L'Oreal makes one brand of nail enamel so there is little confusion in the product line. The 77 different shades ensure a wide variety of colors to suit even the most discriminating woman.

COLOUR ENDURE SMUDGEPROOF STAY-ON MASCARA (blue tube with gold trim). L'Oréal's newest mascara, is specially formulated to resist smudging for up to 24 hours. The patented lightweight formula sets quickly so you can build and lengthen lashes for a lush and luxurious look. Our patented Precision-Comb brush evenly coats each lash with rich, intense colour without clumping. Colour Endure wears without smudging or flaking and removes easily with soap and water. This allergy- and ophthamologist-tested mascara is fragrance free and is safe for sensitive eyes and contact lenswearers. Available in black, soft black, and black-brown.

LASH OUT EXTRA EXTENDING MASCARA (red tube with gold trim) is a breakthrough formula that lengthens every lash without using fibers. Our exclusive state-of-the-art "teddy bear" brush separates and lengthens every lash for lash length beyond your expectations. Lash Out is allergy-and ophthalmologist-tested and is fragrance and fiber free. Lash Out is available in black, soft black, black-brown and blackest blue.

NEW VOLUMINOUS VOLUME BUILDING MASCARA (grey tube with gold trim)builds lashes in a single application. The unique maximizing formula instantly builds lashes 3X or more their natural fullness. Voluminous with Panthenoland Ceramide-R protects and conditions lashes leaving them soft and supple to the touch. The custom designed plush brush (now with a straight or new curved brush) is specially designed to quickly and evenly build lashes,while resisting clumping. The result is incredibly thick, yet naturally soft and weightless lashes. This ophthalmologist- and allergy-tested mascarais available in black, black-brown and soft black shades.

ACCENTUOUS PRECISELY DEFINING MASCARA (black tube with gold trim)is L'Oréal's answer for a separating mascara that prominently defines each and every lash to its ultimate length. The patented co-activating complex bonds with individual lashes to provide smooth, even lashes without clumping.The patented "sculpting" brush builds and separates lashes by evenly distributing the ideal amount of mascara. Ophthalmologist and allergy tested, this formula is available in black, soft black and black brown.

SENSITIQUE (white tube) is hypo-allergenic, non-irritating and fragrance and fiber free. This ophthalmologist and allergy tested formula was made especially for women with sensitive eyes and contact lens wearers.Sensitique's water based formula is pH-balanced and contains an exclusive lash amplifying complex that helps build incredibly full, long lashes. The patented Super soft brush provides safe and gentle lash building with flexible,curved bristles to ensure maximum building of each lash. The mascara is also formulated to be smudgeproof, flake proof and easy to remove. Available in black, soft black and black-brown.

 

I Told You My Penn Quakers Were Good

Okay, so this may seemingly have nothing to do with transgender issues,but some months ago I mentioned to people that my alma mater's men's basketball team was en route to win the Ivy League championship this year. Big friggin'deal, right? Pansy league and all that. Well, hold on, because Penn is poised to capture a lot more than an Ivy League title with an upset win over Temple this week and a standstill fight with Kansas last week, two nationally-ranked top Ten teams. I was at both games (in boy mode) and I can tell you that they were among the best college games I've ever seen.

Okay, now for the Kalina observation: If you were watching the Penn-Temple game on ESPN, you may have noticed the iridescent red/blue midriff-displaying tops the female Penn cheerleaders were wearing during their halftime show.From one angle, the tops looked red. From another, they looked blue. The cheerleaders also wore black hip-hugging pants and taped up their butts so their butts would point skyward. It was kind of mesmerizing watching these girls dance... well... except for the one chubby girl in the center of the pack. Get rid of her and the squad would look perfect.

Hey, I'm a drag queen. I criticize!


Did you enjoy this column? If so, you may wish to visit Kalina's Website, which is chock full of fun and games, sights and sounds, and other interesting things to do. It's better than an amusement park!

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